The doctor was revealed to have provided blood doping to several of the world's leading cyclists and over 200 frozen bags of blood and plasma were seized from his clinic in Madrid.

However, a court in the Spanish capital ruled last month that the bags would not be released for examination by the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who wish to determine if other athletes were also being doped by Fuentes.

Fuentes received a one-year suspended sentence for endangering public health in the way he performed blood extractions and transfusions on a number of high-profile cyclists before the doping ring was dismantled in 2006.

In addition, trainer Ignacio Labarta was condemned to four months in prison, while three other co-accused - Eufemiano's sister Yolanda Fuentes, Vicente Belda and Manolo Saiz - were cleared.

Fuentes had previously offered to name each and every athlete he has given an illegal advantage in the past, although this was not required by the courts as the trial centres on his medical practices due to a lack of anti-doping laws in Spain.

"The UCI can confirm that it will appeal the decision...not to release to the UCI and other anti-doping organisations the more than 200 bags of blood and other evidence gathered in police raids in 2006, which were presented in the trial of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes," the UCI said in a statement.

The Spanish Anti-Doping organisation (AEA) has already decided to appeal against the decision, while WADA has until May 17 to make a decision.


Among the cyclists implicated in the scandal were Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo, Michele Scarponi, José Enrique Gutiérrez Cataluña, Roberto Heras and Dario Pieri.

Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, described Fuentes as a "one-man Wal-Mart" of doping for the peleton in The Secret Race, the explosive autobiography in which he exposed illegal performance-enhancing practices while with the US Postal Service team and then with two European teams.

Fuentes has also worked with individuals from several other sports including tennis, athletics and boxing, while he worked closely with Spanish football club Real Sociedad, coinciding with a period of success at the club as they challenged for the La Liga title and competed in the UEFA Champions League.

Former club President Iñaki Badiola who claimed that Sociedad paid Fuentes over €300,000 (£250,000/$390,000) a year in return for treatments involving "strange" medicines.

Contact the writer of this story at duncan.mackay@insidethegames.biz


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